Subtend

//sʌbˈtɛnd// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To use an angle to delimit (mark off, enclose) part of a straight or curved line, for example an arc or the opposite side of a triangle. transitive

    "A 43° angle subtends an arc of about 0.75 meters on a circle with a radius of 1 meter."

  2. 2
    be opposite to; of angles and sides, in geometry wordnet
  3. 3
    To extend or stretch opposite something; to be part of a straight or curved line that is opposite to and delimits an angle. also, transitive

    "A hypotenuse subtends the right angle of a right triangle."

  4. 4
    To form the central angle of a circle underneath an arc. transitive

    "The points A and B on the circumference form the arc AB, which subtends the central angle θ."

  5. 5
    To stand beneath or close to, as a bract at the base of a flower. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
bump headsconfrontcontendcontraposecontrapositcontrast

Example

More examples

"A 43° angle subtends an arc of about 0.75 meters on a circle with a radius of 1 meter."

Etymology

From Latin subtendere, from sub (“under”) + tendere (“to stretch, extend”), itself a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὑποτείνω (hupoteínō, “to subtend”), from which hypotenuse also derives. See tend.

Related phrases

mark off

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.